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24 November 2015

Willy Fritsch

From the middle of the 1920s on, charming Willy Fritsch (1901-1973) replaced Bruno Kastner and Harry Liedtke as the darling of the female cinema goers in Germany. Fritsch became the immensely popular ‘Sunny Boy’ of the Ufa operettas of the 1930s and 1940s, and with his frequent co-star Lilian Harvey he formed the 'dream team of the German cinema'.

Sunny Nature

Willy (sometimes credited as Willi) Fritsch was born as Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch in Kattowitz in German Silesia (now Katowice, Poland), in 1901. He was the son of Lothar Fritsch, a farmer and machine manufacturer, and his wife Anni (née Bauckmann).

In 1912 he moved with his family to Berlin, where he planned to become a mechanic. In 1919 he took up acting lessons from the actor Gustav Sczimek.

Fritsch debuted with a small role at Max Reinhardt's famous Deutsches Theater. There and at the affiliated Kammerspiele (Chamber theatre) he was cast in smaller stage roles, and played young lovers and comic parts. In 1922, he joined the Max Reinhardt Ensembleon its tour through Scandinavia.

From 1921 on, Fritsch began to appear as a supporting player in films, like the sound experiment Miss Venus (Ludwig Czerny, 1921).

In 1923, he auditioned for the leading role of a blind artist in the melodrama Seine Frau, die Unbekannte/His Mysterious Adventure (Benjamin Christensen, 1923), which was then re-written in order to fit his rather sunny nature.

Fritz Lang

Willy Fritsch convincingly played the would-be son of an aristocrat in Der Farmer aus Texas/The Farmer from Texas (Joe May, 1925), which made him the new star of the production company Ufa.

Next he starred as the dashing Lieutenant Niki in Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz-Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925), which turned out to be a significant success in the USA. At AllMovie, Janiss Garza writes: "This UFA silent, based on an old operetta, is far more light-hearted and spirited than the moody, heavy-handed fare that generally came out of Germany."

Ufa intervened when United Artists offered Fritsch a contract. His next films, Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) and Der letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Arthur Robison, 1927) basically followed the formula of Ein Walzertraum.

Fritsch only occasionally altered his now well-established film image in Spione/Spies (1928) and Frau im Mond/Woman in the Moon (1929), both directed by Fritz Lang.

Hal Erickson notes at AllMovie: "Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German 'thriller' director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another."

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5510/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for the early sound film Einbrecher/Burglar (Hanns Schwarz, 1930), in which Fritsch is a burglar who gets an affair with a rich and neglected industrial's wife (Lilian Harvey).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5858/2, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Im Geheimdienst/In the Employ of the Secret Service (Gustav Ucicky, 1931).

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 5858/4, 1930-1931. Photo: Ufa. Publicity still for Im Geheimdienst/In Secret Service (Gustav von Ucicky, 1931), a spy film set in Russia in World War One.

Lilian Harvey

Willy Fritsch took singing lessons in order to prepare himself for the sound film Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929) with Dita Parlo.

His breakthrough came after being paired with Lilian Harvey in Liebeswalzer/The Love Waltz (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930) and the two were also engaged privately. Liebeswalzer established Harvey and Fritsch as the immensely popular 'dream team of the German cinema'.

Fritsch and Harvey appeared together in twelve films. Each of these films featured several songs, which became popular hits and were also released on records, and thereby further added to the popularity of the two stars.Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "If a poll had ever been conducted amongst fans of international musical-comedy star Lillian Harvey, the actress's most popular vehicle would probably have been Die Drei von Der Tankstelle (Three From the Gas Station) - with Congress Dances running a very close second. The story opens as three debt-ridden young men pool what is left of their savings to open a roadside service station. Their most frequent customer is the wealthy, winsome Ms. Harvey, who frequently shows up fetchingly clad in hiking shorts. Each of the young men falls in love with the girl, unbeknownst to the other two. Which one will she choose? Most likely, the one who sings the best - and that would be Lillian Harvey's frequent screen vis-a-vis Willy Fritsch."

Fritsch managed to survive the Hitler era without any loss of prestige. After the end of the war, he relocated to Hamburg. He spoofed his own image as the romantic lover in Film ohne Titel/Film Without a Title (Rudolf Jugert, 1947), and excelled as the comical conférencier in Herrliche Zeiten/Fun Times (Erik Ode, Günter Neumann, 1949).

Although still in high demand, Fritsch didn't find satisfying roles in West-Germany's post-war cinema. He continued to appear on stage and in films until the early 1960s. He remained a popular figure, partly due to his work as the host of nostalgic radio shows.

Since 1937, he was married to dancer and actress Dinah Grace until her death in 1963. They had two sons, Michael and Thomas. After his wife's death he decided to retire.

With his son Thomas Fritsch he starred in his final film, Das hab ich von Papa gelernt/I Learned It from Daddy (Axel von Ambesser, 1964). In 1963 he had published his memoir … das kommt nicht wieder/That will never come back, and in 1965 he was honoured with the Filmband in Gold, for his long and important work for the German film.

Willy Fritsch died of heart failure in 1973 in Hamburg, Germany. He was 72.

Scenes with Willy Fritsch and Lilian Harvey in Die keusche Susanne/The Innocent Susanne (1926), the silent film in which they first appeared together. Source: SittichFan (YouTube).

Willy Fritsch tells Lilian Harvey that she is too good for an afternoon love affair with Heinz Rühmann in Einbrecher (1930). Source: Taylormayes (YouTube).

1 comment:

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